Cesar Pelli Will Design The Connecticut Center for Science and Exploration

The Connecticut Center for Science and Exploration has commissioned American architect Cesar Pelli to design its new $100 million center in downtown Hartford.

The announcement by the center's trustees ended an architectural competition that included Zaha Hadid, Moshe Safdie, and Stefan Behnish.

Pelli will complete work on the design during the next year with 2007 as the expected date for finishing construction on what will be one of the nation's major science museums.

The Connecticut Center will be a building that will communicate the excitement of science to the surrounding streets, river, and highway, Pelli said in his proposal. The forms are ambitious and dynamic, and they appear to reach out beyond their physical limits.

Cesar Pelli & Associates, a New Haven, Conn. firm, currently is involved in the expansion of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, due to reopen to the public Nov. 20. The architect is best known for his design of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, known as the world's tallest building.